Fresh Loaf

1. Annals of bizarro: Andisheh publicly questions Sunday Paper news editor (allegations of weirdness abound)

2. Jezebel: Four out of five “Real Housewives” are broke (oh, celebs — they’re just like us!)

3. Word: Travesty of death (Brian Nichols is spared the death penalty; Troy Davis continues to fight his death sentence)

4. BMF’s third-in-command sentenced (20 years for the Black Mafia Family’s Fleming “Ill” Daniels)

5. Southeastern Film Critics Association’s got Milk for best picture (critics group — which includes our very own Curt Holman — digs the Harvey Milk biopic)

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The jury now has been deliberating for three days on whether to send convicted courthouse killer Brian Nichols to his death.

The guy shoots a judge and court reporter dead in their own courtroom; kills a deputy en route to his next crime, a violent carjacking; and later guns down a federal agent — and it takes THREE DAYS to decide his fate?

The latest from the AJC is that the Judge Rowland Barnes’ widow is “almost numb just from waiting.”

According to the story, the jury will reconvene on Saturday if it can’t reach a decision today.

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On Oct. 14, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the final appeal of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis. Two days later, the state set Davis’ execution for Oct. 27. The high court’s decision followed a refusal by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Davis’ sentence, despite evidence someone else committed the crime.

“[T]he death penalty undermines human dignity. Any judicial error in its application is irreversible and irreparable. I therefore solemnly call on the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider its position.”

— France’s Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade, in an Oct. 15 statement

“not one, not two, but SEVEN witnesses went back on what they originally said……AND there is no physical evidence / dna???? just goes to show that cats are going to need more than just Obama to help us all.”

— “Professor X,” responding to a post on AllHipHop.com

“I’m not a great fan of the death penalty. I wish of course that none of this had happened, but it has. … The law is the law. It says you kill a police officer, you’re subject to the death penalty.”

— Chatham County District Attorney Spencer Lawton, speaking to the Associated Press

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The nation’s highest court is expected to announce tomorrow whether it will hear the appeal of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, Savannah’s WTOC 11 reports.

If the court takes the case, Davis’ innocence claims might finally be reviewed. If not, the decision will pave the way for his execution. He’s been scheduled for execution twice in the past year — and on both occasions received a last-minute stay.

The decision is expected between the hours of 10 a.m. and noon. Stay tuned.

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Troy Davis

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court met to decide whether to hear the appeal of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, whose innocence claims have generated international attention.

No word yet on whether the high court will take the case. If it does, Davis’ execution — which was delayed twice in the past year, both times within 24 hours of his scheduled death — will be put on hold.

If it doesn’t, a new execution date will be set. And Davis likely will have exhausted every possible appeal.

Check Fresh Loaf for updates — and check out our Troy Davis page, where you’ll find excerpts from the recantations of witnesses who testified against Davis at his 1991 trial, as well as a gallery and video of the grassroots movement to raise awareness about the case.

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Georgia's death chamber

Defense attorney Steve Bright, who arguably knows more about the death penalty than anyone in Georgia, likes to tell a story about former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder.

In the four years Wilder was the state’s top executive, he commuted only two death sentences. One was for a man named Earl Washington. On Wilder’s last day in office, Jan. 14, 1994, he signed an order that stated:

“A review of the record … demonstrate[s] that Earl Washington Jr. received a fair trial and his appeals were well represented and considered. Recently, newly discovered evidence has become available as the result of the initiatives of the Attorney General’s Office. It is clear from precedent in past cases … that there are no provisions under Virginia law whereby such newly discovered evidence can now be considered by the courts.”

The inability of the courts to consider new evidence — even in a death penalty case — troubled the governor. The hunch proved fortuitous. Eight years after Wilder commuted the sentence, DNA evidence showed that Washington was the wrong guy.

Now, a similar claim has been raised in Georgia, in the case of death row inmate Troy Davis.

For the rest of the story, click here.

Visit our multi-media Troy Davis page for updates from the U.S. Supreme Court, excerpts from the affidavits of trial witnesses who recanted their testimony, and slideshows and video of the grassroots movement to bring awareness to the case.

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The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide by next Monday whether to hear the appeal of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, AJC.com reports today. Last week, the high court granted Davis a stay — less than two hours before his scheduled execution — to give the justices time to decide if his innocence claims warrant further review.

According to the AJC story:

The high court’s granting the stay at such a late hour, while not unprecedented, indicates the case has the justices’ interest, court watchers said.

“The court can grant a stay and then refuse to hear a case, but they don’t issue the stay lightly,” said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who specializes in arguing cases before the high court. “They are thinking about it hard.”

Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court order stated that if the justices opt not to hear the appeal, “this stay shall terminate automatically” — meaning Davis’ execution would again be imminent.

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STAYING ALIVE: Troy Davis is alive this morning, thanks to a last-minute stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices will reconvene Monday, and if they don’t decide to hear his case, he’s back in Georgia’s clutches.

CHECK IS IN THE BAIL: Congress is listening to growing outcries to limit Wall Street executives’ lavish salaries and perks as part of the bailout. Counters one trade lobbyist: “It is not appropriate for government to be setting the salaries of executives.” Not appropriate like, say, using taxpayer money to save a corporation from its own bad investments.

WARREN PEACE: Warren Buffet soothes the weary minds of investors by throwing in on Goldman Sachs.

FUELISH HUMANS: The 2008 Atlanta Gas Crisis! is still going strong, despite the EPA’s move to allow local stations to sell heavier-polluting fuel. The AJC interviews an Emory behavioral psychologist, who reminds us that we’re panicky nitwits.

GAS FIGHT! Society is always three meals, or one tank of gas, away from anarchy.

FLORIDA: Decides it will accept Clayton students to its colleges after all.

DEKALB PLANE CRASH: One person is killed when a plane headed from Jacksonville, Fla., to Michigan crashes in a residential neighborhood near PDK.

TYLER PERRY: The Atlanta movie mogul/maven, who was once homeless himself, donates enough food to feed 1,000 Atlanta families for two weeks, helping address the recent food-donation shortage in the city.

ZOONOTIC SUGGESTION: Advocates of relocating the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to Athens contend it would foster increased scientific collaboration on treating diseases that start in animals and spread to humans, like avian flus.

BLACK MARKET: The announcement that UGA’s high-stakes showdown with No. 8 Alabama Saturday will be the blackout game has sparked the Athens economy with a black-clothes-buying frenzy.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution to Troy Davis — less than two hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection, according to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

This is the second time that Davis has been granted a stay less than 24 hours before his scheduled execution.

GFADP and Amnesty International will host a celebration at 6:30 p.m. at the Georgia State Capitol downtown, near the corner of MLK Drive and Washington Street.

More details to come …

UPDATE: According to CNN.com:

Troy Anthony Davis first learned that his execution had been stayed when he saw it on the news, he told CNN’s Rusty Dornin in an exclusive phone interview minutes after the stay was announced.

UPDATE: According to AJC.com:

The U.S. Supreme Court’s justices are scheduled to decide Monday whether to hear an appeal of a ruling issued in March by the Georgia Supreme Court. In that 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court rejected Davis’ request that he be granted a new trial or a court hearing to present new evidence.

In its order, the U.S. Supreme Court said if the justices decline to accept Davis’ appeal, “this stay shall terminate immediately.” If the appeal is granted, the stay will remain in force until the high court issues its ultimate ruling on Davis’ appeal, the order said.

(Photo courtesy Georgia Department of Corrections)

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TROY DAVIS: Will be killed by Georgia tonight, barring a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

BAILOUT: What at first seemed like a tourniquet is starting to look more like a feather pillow for Wall Street, and congressional leaders are pointing out that we’ve been notoriously fooled before by this administration under guise of looming disaster.

BLAME: More Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis.

STONEHENGE: British researchers determine it was a pilgrimage site for the sick.

BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Is under way, with the defense portraying Nichols as lost in fantasy during his notorious 2005 killing spree, and the prosecution arguing he knew what he was doing.

GAS SHORTAGE: Ten percent of the country’s refining capacity is still down post-Ike, leading to major gasoline shortages, especially in the Southeast.

A BLEND IN NEED: The shortage here is compounded by environmental rules requiring the metro area to use a special type of gas known as “the Atlanta blend,” which includes oxygenates such as ethanol that help fuel burn more cleanly.

LARRY MUNSON: The inimitable voice of Georgia football, who has suffered from health problems in recent years, announced his immediate retirement Monday.

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In case you missed Joeff Davis’ report earlier, the Rev. Marvin Morgan of Atlanta offered to be executed in the place of Troy Davis, who’s scheduled to die tomorrow. He and two other people have been in the governor’s waiting room since just after 11 a.m.

Here’s part of the letter he delivered to the governor’s office.

I, MARVIN L. MORGAN, DO HEREBY REQUEST THAT YOU (The State of Georgia) TAKE MY LIFE INSTEAD OF THAT OF TROY DAVIS, AND ALLOW TROY TO BE SET FREE. I AM AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY TO BE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY SO THAT THIS REQUEST MAY BE CARRIED FORWARD.

It may be a publicity stunt, but it’s a good and honorable one.

(more…)

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